patrick,
i have a friend who's girlfriend bought him a midline taylor for christmas last year ( gotta find one of those girls right? ), and while he loved the guitar, he seemed to think it was really bright sounding, almost too bright sometimes, and lacked what he heard and wanted from other acoustics. however, i picked up the guitar and thought it was a great sounding guitar since it sounded wonders better than my acoustic.
i also have a few friends whom own midline martins that sound better than the $2000 martins ones we pick up. i personally really like the sound of martins, but i still can't tell how much i like the feel of the necks, and i love the sound of the gibsons and the necks, but my wallet hates the tag. ha. anyway,
the problem with buying acoustics is that a lot of these music stores have those acoustic rooms that could make a cardboard guitar sound good. they're so deceitful to the ear. ever pick up something out of a room like that, only to bring it home wondering why it sounds like a totally different guitar?
these places frown on you walking out of the room with the high end guitars, but whatever, if i'm serious about buying it, i'll play it where i want. it's just really important to pick up a lot of different guitars, even if they are the same model, and let your ears do the judging, and inevitably, let the guitar pick you.. because it will.